ABN reports: Over
120,000 youngsters from 133 countries are expected to be present at the
XVI World Youth and Students Festival to take place in Venezuela from
August 9-15.

ABN reports: Over
120,000 youngsters from 133 countries are expected to be present at the
XVI World Youth and Students Festival to take place in Venezuela from
August 9-15.

During his weekly Alo
Presidente #229, President Hugo Chavez said that around 458 youth and
student organizations will be coming to Caracas to discuss issues
pertinent to the present and the future of nations.

At least 11,000 delegates from the Americas
will be present at the festival in order to debate issues related to
the destruction of the environment, neo-liberal policies and their
consequences, solidarity and support for suffering nations, aggression
by part of US imperialism, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)
and its colonialist pretenses, as well as the Bolivarian Alternative
for the Americas (ALBA) and its integrationist purpose.

On August 5 and 6, the IV International
Pre-Festival Gathering will take place in Caracas. Delegates are
expected to arrive on August 7, while the opening ceremony is scheduled
to take place on August 8.

August 9 will be the first day of discussions up until August 15, the last day of the Festival.

In addition, on August 13 and 14, the Anti
Imperialist Tribunal is expected to meet, holding four debate sessions
on denounces made by people against imperialism, as well as denounces
against embargo, threats, aggressions, capitalist exploitation as a
system of oppression and solutions to these problems.

During the festival there will be different
solidarity days for each continent. A concert for peace will take place
on August 14, to honor the people who came together and defeated Nazism
and Fascism during World War II.

The closing events will be dedicated completely
to the Venezuelan people, commemorating the bicentennial anniversary of
Simon Bolivar’s Swearing on the Sacred Mount, as well as the Venezuelan
people’s triumph in the August 15, 2004 presidential referendum.